Survival Instinct (Book 5): Social Instinct

by Stittle, Kristal

  There was only a single sound that reached him. At one point, a startled cry made its way across the square to Evans’ ears. It sounded like French to him, but he couldn’t be certain. There was nothing after that.

  A tense few minutes later, the doors to the courthouse opened. The silent ones all exited with a very confused looking Ki-Nam in their midst.

  “Did you get them all?” Jon’s voice drifted from a building somewhere to Evan’s right. There was awe in his voice.

  One of the silent ones raised a pale hand with its thumb up. They believed they had gotten them all, and Evans had no reason to doubt them.

  “Ki-Nam, are you all right?” Evans called from his rooftop.

  “Evans? That you?” Ki-Nam responded, surprised. “Yes, I’m okay, nothing broken. You’ve made some interesting friends.”

  “Wait there, I’ll come down to you.”

  The silent ones gathered in the square, around the dried-up fountain. As Evans turned away from the edge of the roof to find his way down, he wondered where Gerald was. The silent ones would have left him behind while they worked.

  Evans climbed down a ladder hanging off the side of the building, having to drop the last few feet to reach the alley below. He had just turned to head toward the square, when a shape rushed out at him from a doorway. Evans pulled in his stomach and twisted as the moon glinted off metal headed for his gut. His shirt ripped. There was no time to grab his sword, so he swung with the rifle butt and missed, the stock whooshing through the air above his attacker’s head. Sharp pain bit into Evans’ leg, just above the knee as his attacker’s blade became buried there. Evans cried out and toppled sideways.

  As his attacker pounced again, Evans raised the rifle to defend himself. Instead, the full bodyweight of the person landed on the gun, which was then pressed down into Evans’ throat. In an instant, he could barely breath.

  Struggling to lift the person off him, or throw him to one side, Evans finally looked up at the face of his assailant. It was Gerald. The kid loomed over him with a crazed look as he leaned all of his weight down onto the rifle, and counterbalanced Evans’ attempts to buck him off. Evans had pushed him too far. He should have known better. He should have known that if Gerald was willing to strangle an old lady over a zombie, he’d attack Evans over… over what? What he had said? Blue? Taking him from his home? It didn’t matter now. Spots were filling Evans’ vision. His pack was working against him, caught on something to his right. The knife was still in Evans’ left leg, making his leg all but useless. Every attempt to use it sent a jolt of paralyzing pain up his whole body.

  “Die already,” Gerald spat in his face.

  And then suddenly the pressure on Evans’ throat was gone. Gerald’s face disappeared as his head was ripped back. Too far back. His head had been nearly cleaved off, and Evans soon found himself drenched in the kid’s blood. As Gerald’s body fell off him, Evans was finally free to sit up. His breath wheezed, and he coughed, his throat feeling like fire. His face was hot from the blood, and he set to wiping it away from his eyes.

  “Are you okay?”

  Evans had expected a silent one, but instead he heard the voice of Jon. Once Evans could see, he watched as Jon wiped clean the blade of his katana.

  “Are you okay?” he asked again.

  Evans nodded. “That’s Gerald,” he wheezed. “He’s not a silent one. He’s dressed like them, but he’s not one of them. He’s crazy.”

  “Don’t try to speak. Come on, let’s get you some help.” Jon assisted Evans to his feet.

  The knife continued to protrude from Evans’ leg as they hobbled into the square, but Evans didn’t care to pull it out.

  “What the hell happened?” Danny asked when he spotted them.

  “Gerald,” Evans puffed.

  “Who?”

  “I’ll explain.”

  “Later,” Jon insisted. “Let’s patch you up first.”

  Evans was dumped onto the grass, and packs were thrown down beside him, as people found water and first aid supplies. Ki-Nam knelt down on his left.

  “You’ve made some terrifying friends,” he spoke in a low voice to Evans as he started wiping at his face with a wet rag. There was a look of fright in his eyes that Evans didn’t think he had ever seen before. Ki-Nam was normally so stoic.

  “Yes,” was all Evans answered.

  As the knife was extracted, and the wound cleaned and stitched, Evans’s eyes sought out Blue. He wanted to say that he was sorry about what had happened to her friend. Maybe it was the pain talking, but he wanted to apologize for Jon’s brutal actions, as if the silent ones hadn’t just done the same to more than a dozen others. But he couldn’t find Blue. He couldn’t tell which one was her. All he saw were shadows.

  36: James

  11 Days After the Bombing

  It was the day after making his offer that James finally heard back from the council. They had accepted his trade: food for a shipping container. Supplies were going to be loaded up onto the flatbed truck, and exchanged for one, unopened container. Whatever was in the container, whether it be useful or not, would belong to the Theatre.

  “I can agree to that, provided you throw in some seeds from your medical plants.”

  The council shook on the deal, with all parties knowing they were likely to make many more in the future, should it all work out.

  James had expected to be busy with preparations after the agreement, but instead he found himself somewhat bored. The Theatre didn’t need his help getting ready. He had pointed out the container yard on a map the other day, and apparently that was all they required of him. He walked around and watched the hive of activity, until his foot started to hurt too much. He ended up back in the IMAX theatre, sitting down with the others.

  “Do you know when we’re expected to head out?” Skip asked him. Only he and Marissa were in there with him, the rest of the group off exploring, or making use of the flush toilets while they could.

  “I was told tomorrow morning,” James answered.

  Skip nodded. “I won’t be coming then.”

  James frowned. “Why not?”

  Skip raised his injured hand. “Dr. Dilton doesn’t recommend travel for a few days. I mean, I still could, but I don’t really want to.”

  “Do you want to join this community?”

  “Maybe,” Skip shrugged. “But really, I’m just tired. Tired of walking and sleeping in different places every night. I need a longer rest before making my way back.”

  “Well, it’s up to you, if it’s all right with the people here.”

  “Reggie said it’s fine. He probably likes the idea of one of us remaining behind while a bunch of them go out to our place.”

  “Two of us,” Marissa added. “When Skip told me he planned to stay, I volunteered to stay with him.”

  James nodded. “All right then. You have until tomorrow if you change your mind. And make sure you tell the others.”

  The two of them returned his nod.

  James took off his boots and his socks and checked his foot. It still jarred him to see the absence where his two left most toes were supposed to be, and the mess of angry scars that wrapped around the area. He knew he had been lucky not to lose the whole foot without anyone having to tell him that. He washed both his feet and then left them out to air dry, as he lay stretched out on his bedroll. It was all too easy to imagine ending up like Aaron, having a limb lopped off to save his life, only to die from an infection after the procedure. James’ foot had sometimes been red and puffy during the journey, but that had always just been from irritation. All the wounds were closed up now, and he should be safe from an infection claiming the rest of him.

  The day passed slowly, with members of the group wandering in and out. Skip and Marissa explained to each of them their decision to stay. Belle was the only one to offer up any sort of protest, saying she would miss them, but neither Skip nor Marissa were swayed. No one offered to join them in remaining behind. James bet th
ey felt like him: this place was nice, but it just wasn’t home.

  Knowing they would be leaving the next day, James had hoped to get a full night’s rest, but instead found his mind unable to let go of consciousness. He lay still, hoping that at least his body would be rested, but his mind kept bouncing around, thinking about everything that could happen on the journey home. What if there were more pigs? What if the lions weren’t intimidated by their larger numbers? A trailer was not something that could be easily stowed away inside a building for the night. They would need to have guards outside with the supplies. What if the lions came then?

  James eventually fell asleep, but the morning came too soon after. There were no windows in the theatre, no way of knowing just what hour it was, but Reggie came to wake them when it was time to get ready.

  “Will you be coming with us?” James asked their guide as he packed up his gear. While he would have liked to have left sooner, at least his clothes had had ample time to dry out.

  “Me? Oh no, I’m staying here.” Reggie sounded honestly quite surprised by the question.

  “Not a traveller, huh?” James commented.

  “No. No, I’m not a traveller,” Reggie agreed. “Besides, with Skip and Marissa remaining here, they’ll need someone around who they feel comfortable questioning.”

  “So you’ll take care of them?”

  “Of course.”

  “How long are they allowed to stay?”

  “I don’t know. Depends on how long they want to stay. They may be required to do some work to pay for their keep, but it’s unlikely to be very manual labour. You might have noticed that we barely have enough jobs to keep everyone occupied as it is, and we wouldn’t want to put unnecessary strain on Skip’s injured hand.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I’m just doing my job.”

  “I have to ask. Were you like, a hotel concierge or something before all this happened?”

  Reggie merely smiled in response.

  Once they were packed up, everyone said their goodbyes to Skip and Marissa. Even though they might see each other again, maybe even in just a few weeks, it was a rather solemn moment, since they all knew just what kinds of things could happen between now and then.

  Reggie first led them all to breakfast, which was a meal larger than James’ stomach was able to manage. He actually couldn’t eat it all, and he struggled to remember the last time he had felt so stuffed. Reggie’s breakfast was much smaller, and when this was pointed out, he said that they were given a large meal as was customary for everyone before they travelled outside the wall. Knowing that food would be tightly rationed, the Theatre liked to send people off with full stomachs.

  “Or bursting ones,” Samson quipped.

  The scraps were gathered up by someone who had been waiting off to one side. The leftovers would be taken to the animals, so James didn’t feel like he was actually wasting anything. In fact, if he had known beforehand, he might have eaten a little less.

  Reggie led them outside, and then across the parking lot toward the wall.

  “Where’s my horse?” James asked.

  “Already saddled and waiting beyond the barrier for you,” Reggie told him. “Both of them are.”

  James looked around for any last minute preparations, but couldn’t see any. “Are they all waiting on us?”

  “I don’t know. They might still be arranging a few last minute items on the trailer.”

  It seemed that the folks from the Theatre had gotten up extra early to get ready, and had allowed James and the others to sleep in. It caused an odd twist of guilt and embarrassment to roll through James’ gut. Or maybe that was just his body trying to remember how to digest so much food all at once.

  They passed through the hidden door and found their new travelling companions outside. James was surprised to spot Dinah and her team, and wondered who had decided to pull them off their patrol. He also saw that Vee was coming with them. She sat at the head of the large, modified flatbed trailer, looking mighty impressive with the team of draft horses before her, replacing what would normally be a long haul truck. On the trailer behind her, a large heap of boxes and bags had been secured, and a few tarps were still being strapped down over the lot of them. If there was food filling everything that James saw, the container yard should be able to survive until their crops grew in, even though they hadn’t even started planting yet. They would have to keep rationing, and he didn’t know how much of the food was of a kind that could keep for a long time, but it was an uplifting sight nevertheless.

  “These fellas have been waiting for you,” spoke an unfamiliar voice from the direction James hadn’t been looking. He turned and saw a man walking two horses toward him. Soot and Spark had been cleaned up so nicely that for a brief second, James had failed to recognize them. Soot had no such problem with him, and trotted the last few steps, placing his head on James’ shoulder when he reached him.

  “Hey, boy,” James said to Soot as he gave him a scratch. “Did you enjoy your stay here?” He then searched for the man who had handed the horses off, but he had already left to do some other task.

  “It’s like they’ve been to the spa,” Katrina joked as she looked over Spark. “Someone even buffed their hooves.”

  James didn’t think they had actually been buffed, but a farrier had certainly been at them. They remained barefoot, but their hooves had been properly trimmed, and cleaned as thoroughly as the rest of them. James ran his hand down Soot’s neck, feeling how soft and clean his coat was. It certainly wasn’t going to last with the journey ahead.

  Katrina hoisted herself up onto Spark’s saddle.

  “You’re going to ride today?” James commented, still looking over Soot’s saddlebags.

  “There’s a lot of people walking, and a lot of people riding,” Katrina commented as she cast her gaze about the area. “I can ride without feeling guilty, so I’m going to do it.”

  James scrambled up onto Soot. He had sometimes felt guilty about riding when the others had walked, but with his foot, it had been necessary. Even with other riders around, and more people on foot, James felt a little bit of guilt as he sat above them. He wondered if Katrina was being honest, or if she had some other sort of reason for wanting to ride.

  James guided Soot around to say hello to Vee.

  “I didn’t realize you were coming,” he told her.

  “It’s been a while since I’ve seen somewhere new. I decided I should stretch my legs. Besides, Reggie mentioned you wouldn’t mind having someone explain our legal system to your people. I thought who better to do that than me?” She was smiling and looked quite eager to get underway. It really must have been a long time since she had gone out, because James didn’t think anyone should be that happy leaving the safety of their walls.

  After clarifying a few points regarding the route they were taking, James then rode along the trailer to which Dinah was helping to secure the last of the tarps. He noticed then that Katrina was deliberately following him, and thought he knew why she had chosen to ride: to make sure James wasn’t alone, or singled out among them.

  “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” James said, drawing Dinah’s attention away from her work.

  “The council figured you’d feel more comfortable if the party included people you already knew,” Dinah explained her presence. “Given what happened to your friend while we were together, I wasn’t so sure you’d want to see my team again, but I do the job I’m asked to do.”

  “I can’t speak for the others, but I’m glad you’re here.”

  “I prefer familiar faces to all these strange ones,” Katrina added.

  This led to Dinah pointing out who the important people were. Vee, as the only council member making the trip, was in charge of the whole operation. If she said something, they were all to obey. Along with Dinah’s, there were three other teams, each of them consisting of six to eight people, and each with its own leader. Of the four teams, two were on foot, and
two were on horseback. There were also another five people who, like Vee, didn’t normally leave the Theatre, although they had made several trips to other colonies in the past. There were two doctors, two engineers, and a woman with a head for numbers, who was going to keep track of everyone’s supplies as they travelled.

  “Quite the group. We’re going to have trouble finding places to sleep at night,” James noted.

  “Most of us will be sleeping right here,” Dinah commented, gesturing to an empty space on the trailer between the supplies and the edge of it. “And when the ground is dry, more of us will be sleeping underneath. Of course, you’re welcome to spend the night wherever you please.”

  James would decide that with the others whenever they stopped.

  All the team leaders Dinah had pointed out, as well as herself, eventually reported to Vee that they were ready to go. After James checked with his own group, making sure no one wanted to change their mind at the last minute and stay behind with Skip and Marissa, he reported the same.

  “Let’s get this train moving then!” Vee shouted. She snapped the reins and set the team of draft horses to walking. James had thought that she had been sitting up there in order to watch the preparations; he hadn’t actually expected her to be the one to drive the trailer. Commanding a large team of horses like that took skill, and he had to admit that he was a little impressed. He could ride one horse just fine, and knew how to drive a small team of two, but he didn’t think he’d even have the courage to sit in Vee’s place. He was beginning to see why she was so well respected.

  The people from the Theatre had clearly planned in advance the order in which they would travel. One of the teams with horses rode out ahead, acting as their vanguard, while the second team brought up the rear. The two teams on foot, which included Dinah’s, walked on either side of the flatbed trailer. While Vee drove at the front, the doctors, engineers, and supply woman, all sat along its length. There was no obvious gap for James and his people to fill in, so they were free to walk wherever they wanted. They started by grouping near Dinah’s team, since they knew them and none of the others.